GROUP DYNAMICS/TEAM WORK/LEADERSHIP

1. Most people do not really analyse how their team/group is different from some others that they use for comparison. Structures, hierarchies, interdependence etc make teams and groups unique. A basketball team requires great interdependence between members. There is an element of sacrifice involved, purely for the sake of others. On the other hand, members of a boxing team have no interdependence. Boxers of the same team, but representing different categories ( Flyweight, Bantam weight, Heavy weight etc ) have no interaction among themselves. There are absolutely no requirements of trust or sacrifice. Since the basketball and boxing teams operate in totally different environments, you can not copy the coaching style of one into another.

2. Most team leaders maintain that since high spirit and morale are co-terminus with job success, developing these will ensure success on the job. While it may be true to a degree, mostly these conditions are the result of success rather than the causes of it. Explaining this concept here is difficult, but I stand by it. In my army command, I have seen too many units making the mistake of offering sops etc just to ‘increase morale’, in the hope of finally improving job performance. Smart units, however, take measures to ensure ‘initial success on the job’ to increase morale and they do it by ensuring individual accountability and systematically correcting the process. The movie ‘12 0’ Clock High’, which I screen in my programs, makes this point excellently.